From a post on /r/creation:
> The driving force behind the theory of evolution is survival of the fittest.
No, the driving force behind natural selection is survival of the fittest. Natural selection is but one of many parts of the theory of evolution.
> A species thrives if it is able to survive in the ecosystem.
Way simplified, so not exactly wrong but could be more valid.
> I was just watching a video on trophic cascades which got me thinking.
> Trophic cascades are the idea that the food cycle in an ecosystem is not necessarily driven by the supply of plants, allowing more herbivores, allowing more carnivores, but that the system works exactly the other way around: the amount of carnivores limits the amount of herbivores, allowing more plants that allows the ecosystem to thrive.
Not true. Trophic cascades are when a trophic (hence the name) level of an ecosystem controls the density of the remaining trophic levels through indirect actions. That is, one of the levels of the food chain can determine a rise or fall in the populations of the other levels above and/or below that trophic level. So by definition a trophic cascade can work toward the top or toward the bottom. What he is describing is the top-down trophic cascade.
> If such is the case, then wouldn't this mean that Darwin's idea of survival of the fittest is also on shaky ground? A "perfectly fit" herbivore species would, according to trophic cascade, destroy its own ecosystem by outnumbering the carnivores that could feed on it.
No, because "survival of the fittest" does not describe a species or an organism, but a TRAIT. It's the survival of the fittest trait for that ecological system. Even if there were more herbivores than carnivores in a particular system, as often is the case, the system does not fall apart nor does natural selection cease to occur.
> This means that in the light of the ecosystem, a species cannot be fit on itself, but only in interaction with its consumer; a super speedy rabbit is less fit than a sluggish rabbit that is unable to outrun the wolves that eat them.
As above, survival of the fittest is not about species nor organisms.
> It also means that there is no way for carnivores to have evolved from herbivores, as this would allow for a huge time period in which herbivores would have been able to destroy their plant environment witho
... keep reading on reddit ➡
For a geo essay, I need to answer the question "through deep ocean exploration, how could scientists study the impact of trophic cascades?" Does anyone know any resources or points I could make, I seem to be having trouble finding sources and articles on this topic? Thank you all!
Released: 2020-11-20
Trommel - Trommel - Animalia
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Hey, I am working on a presentation for school. My theme is the impact the wolve had in the yellowstone nationalpark. I live in Germany so I asked myself if you can see similar things happening here with the reintroduction of the wolf. Also I am interested in critical papers that dout that wolves really chance river. (I assume you know the YouTube video "how wolves change rivers") I have read about some scientists that dout the connection but didn't found research papers or other stuff that I can use as a source.
Thank you in advance.
I am writing a college paper about if the GBR reef we sampled is controlled through Top-down or Bottom-up and I wanted to know if you guys know any cool papers, hopefully journals. This could help me decide if my statistics are preformed correctly or even introduce me to new ones. I am using ANOVA and correlation btw.
For a geo essay, I need to answer the question "through deep ocean exploration, how could scientists study the impact of trophic cascades?" Does anyone know any resources or points I could make, I seem to be having trouble finding sources and articles on this topic? Thank you all!
